Choices Not Yet Made
by Silver Butterfly 111
Summary: I'm in the middle of a panic attack. "I changed the book!" A 17 year-old girl finds herself in the Lord of the Rings books, She's faced with choices that she has made and some that have not yet been made. Meanwhile an evil elf lord seeks to gain the throne to Mrikwood.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Lord of The Rings.**

Chapter 1

Trees

Okay I didn't mean for any of this to happen, if I'd known I could read myself into the book I would have done it a lot sooner.

"What the heck did you do?!" My best friend Amy screams at me. "This is so not my fault." I defend myself. I see the concerned look on her face and she glares at me. I step away from her and brush my hair out of my face. My fingers that had been placing my hair behind my ear freeze. " Pointy ears." I whisper Amy looks at me confused. "What?" She asks. I ignore her.

I wonder...

"Give me a second, I'm going to see if I can find out where we are." I walk over to a tree and start to climb.

Okay this is totally awesome. I used to suck at climbing trees.. No I'm serious the only time I climbed a tree was when I was six, I got to like the second branch and decided it was too high, then I freaked out and wouldn't move until someone got me down. I finally decide that I've climbed high enough and I sit on a branch wondering what to do next. Obviously I was deep in thought so needless to say I was freaked out when I heard a voice. "Where'd you come from?" Okay in my defense the voice ha made my jump and the branch wasn't very strong, but the next thing I know I'm back on the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing.**

Chapter 2

Nature hates me

"Ow!" Okay what just happened?

The person is down on the ground now too. He doesn't seemed concerned with the fact that I could have broken my leg, or arm or something else important for that matter. "Why are you in the woods?" He asked. I groan and stand up, "I could ask you the same question." I say in reply. "I asked you first." He says, waiting for my answer.

I was going to say that he was on dangerous ground, because he was, I could see the ground beginning to cave in where he stood. But then I saw the orange light of a forest-fire and it was coming toward us.

So my sentence sounded more like. "Your on... fire." He gave me a confused look. I was too embarrassed to speak so I just pointed to the orange light.

He turned his head and moved his foot. The ground gave way. I was glad I didn't know much Elvish because I'm pretty sure he was swearing.

000

Okay I'm seriously starting to think that nature didn't want me to be there. First I fell out of the tree. then the fire and now the animals that where feeling from the fire where charging straight at me...I had a terrifying image of me being run over by a panicked Bambi. "Oh come on."

Meanwhile Amy was nowhere to be seen. I was planning to try and help the Elf out of the hole because I figured he could calm the animals down...Then I lost my footing and ended up next to him. "Oh, great." I mumbled. "So, how's it going?" I asked looking up at the top of the hole trying to find an easy way back up, there weren't any so I turned to look at the Elf.

He had he's head pressed to the side of the hole, like he had a huge headache. I knew all to well that pose, I tended to give a lot of people headaches. "What where you thinking?" The Elf asked without looking at me. "Um..Rescue mission." I tried. "This was your plan?" The Elf sounded annoyed. "It's not my best plan." I admitted. "You have good plans?" He sounded like he didn't believe me. "I have good plans!" I folded my arms and glared at him. "Of course you do." He still sounded like he didn't believe me. I ignored him. By now the animals had calmed down, the Elf climbed out of the hole, he made it look so easy, but when I tried to fallow I just slide back down the side. "Still down here!" I called up to him. A sliver rope appeared above my head. Once I was on solid ground I see that Amy is back from wherever the heck she'd gone.

"Where did you go?" I asked. "Your not the only one with Elf tree-climbing skills." She replied. I just shrugged and said nothing.

000

"You never answered my question." The Elf says once we get a fire going. "What one?" I point out that he asked me a lot of questions. "Where did you come from?" "Not here." I answer laughing to myself. "Why are you in the woods?" "Oh we have our reasons." I reply. I ask him a question "Why did you have rope?" "Because." He answers.

Okay, we obviously are not getting anywhere with this conversation. I groan and stare up at the stars. "Why does nature hate me? If you're an Elf don't you get like nature powers or something, isn't nature supposed to like you?" The Elf seems to find this amusing. "It doesn't work that way. and did you ever consider the fact that nature might think your annoying?" "I'm not annoying." I defend myself. "Yes you are." Amy joins our conversation from the other side of the fire. "Who's side are you on?" Amy laughs and goes to sleep. "What is it like?" The Elf asks after a moment.

"What's what like?" I ask sleepily. "Where your from?" The Elf says. "Well, there aren't as many trees, and you can't see the stars very well, unless you go into the mountains." I say looking up at the stars again. It seems that there isn't an inch of black in the sky at all. He sits there for a minute thinking, "I'll leave you to think." I say resting my head on the ground and drifting off to sleep. Secretly wondering if I'll ever get back home, would I want to go back if I was given the chance?

** If anyone has ideas on what I should do with this in the future let me know. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone! I own nothing to do with The Lord of the Rings. If anyone has any ideas that they think I should do to make the story more interesting let me know in your reviews. Enjoy the new chapter! **

Chapter 3

Say what?!

"Would you mind telling us where we are going?" I ask moving a branch out of my way to avoid getting slapped in the face. "I prefer secrecy." Answers the Elf who I now know as Ethirdir. "And you call me annoying?" I'm beginning to question his definition of the word.

Ethirdir stops and listens for something. I instantly think of all the horror movie scenes where it gets all quiet and then something jumps out at you." Oh thanks for reminding me of that, I scold my thoughts. Meanwhile Ethirdir is busy responding to some sort of signal.

Another Elf appears. Seemingly out of nowhere. "I'd like you to meet my brother." Ethirdir say gesturing at the other Elf. The newly introduced Elf raises his eyebrow and Ethirdir sighs. "Older brother." He finishes. "Would you like me to tell all of Middle-Earth?" "Yes, yes I would."

I'm completely speechless, wow that's a first.

Legolas isn't supposed to have a brother. Oh look my voice works. "Say what? Huh, how, I'm so confused." The two of them have started conversing in Elvish, I watch both of their faces trying to figure out what they're saying from their expressions. "I can't understand you." I say a little frustrated. They both look at me like they forgot I was even there.

"I think that's the point." Ethiridr says. "Well it's rude, aren't Princes taught manners anymore?" Ethirdir and Legolas exchange a look and then they burst out laughing as if I'd just said the funniest thing in the world. "We aren't royalty." They say at the same time.

If it was possible for me to be more confused I was. "How are you guys brothers, you don't even look alike." I ask deciding to start asking questions at the beginning. They don't look anything alike Ethirdir has black hair and green eyes. While Legolas had blue eyes. I failed to see any family resemblance. "So we have been told many a time." Legolas replied looking at his younger brother as if he himself couldn't believe they had the same bloodline.

000

Your probably thinking. Okay how can this possibly get anymore confusing. Oh but wait they're elves of course they can get more confusing.

"We are in the presence of royalty." Ethirdir said after very prolonged silence. I spun around trying to see if there was anyone within range that they could be referring too, wait a minute...Are they talking about me.

OMG what the heck is going on!?

000

I pull Amy aside. I'm in the middle of a panicked frenzy. "I changed the book!" I scream. "What do you mean?" Amy asks covering her ears. Oh right I forgot we have Elvish hearing. I begin listing the things that are wrong with the book now that we are inside of it.

"Legolas isn't supposed to have a brother, he's not even a Prince anymore and now I'm being told i'm supposed to be a Princess. Care to explain?" I ask her as if she was going to have the answer. She wasn't even looking at me anymore. "What are you looking at?" I spin around and lo and behold Ethirdir is standing right there.

Oh crap.

I only have time to see the look of sadness and pain on his face before he runs away. He must have heard the part where he wasn't supposed to exist.

000

**My 1st cliff hanger! :) Review please! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing to do with LOTR. Let me know if you have any ideas about what to do with this story in the future. **

**:) Enjoy. **

Chapter 4

An arrow though the heart

He was avoiding me, he didn't speak to me, I'd hurt him and it made me feel sick. We reached Mrikwood within the day. "Ethirdir please speak to me." I begged as he began to walk away from me. "I have nothing to say to you." He snapped.

Ouch. I deserved that.

Amy shook her head as she watched my newest attempt to say I'm sorry. I couldn't tell who she had more pity for, me or the elf. Legolas didn't know what to do so he settled for giving me icy looks when I looked to him for help. The castle gates were opened. I was led or should I say pulled along though the corridors by a maid who took me to the King.

Said king looked at me and scowled. Okay not exactly the welcome I'd been looking for but I probably looked like I'd come back from the dead. "We must fix _this_." he said as he looked at my jeans and black T-shirt.

Was he making fun of my outfit. Rude. Well I'm sorry but if I'd known I'd be meeting a king I would have clean up first, It's not my fault I'd had a rough few days, I fell down a hole for crying out loud! I'm sorry if I look like I'm half dead.

I allowed myself to be led away by the maid, who showed me to a bedroom.

It was extremely pretty, the wooden floor was covered in patterns. the rug on the floor at the foot of the bed was woven of red and black treads the bed post were made of thick wood and had patterns carved into them. The maid left me to wash up saying that she would come back to me to some sort of party that had been arranged for my return. I washed my face and scrubbed my arms with soap, granted it wasn't a warm shower but it felt good to be even a bit clean. I washed my hair and waited for it to dry.

I emerged from the bathroom to find a dress laid out for me on the bed along with a pair of brown and sliver boots. The dress was the color of dark pine trees, at the hem were lines of sliver threads that curved up so that it looked like a silver river had been stitched into the dress. The sleeves were butterfly style. And don't even get me started on the boots, in one word they where awesome. The maid entered the room and brushed out my hair even though I told her I could do it myself. My brown hair fell down my back in glossy waves. The maid rushed me out of the room quickly mumbling about being late.

Amy looked as pretty as me if not prettier. Her dress was the same as mine but it was a dark blue.

XxxX

There was music and the smell of food was so amazing that I could have eaten the air and not starve. The party was held outside, A large wooden table sat in the center of everything, The sky seemed to grow dark quicker then anything could happen.

Amy was way too excited, I had a feeling she'd found sugar. Oh well not my problem. I merely watched everything. Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. So naturally I followed the shadow that the figure cast on the grass.

It was Ethirdir, he climbed a tree and vanished from sight. I followed quietly. I scaled the tree until I was a few branches above him. I dropped down next to him and he stiffened. I waited for him to shout at me, he said nothing. "Look, I don't know what to say, I honestly I'm sorry I-" He faced me and spoke suddenly. "Is it true, I'm I nothing, I'm I not made of flesh and blood as I thought I was?" He looked down at his hands as if he expected them to turn into air.

"Make me flesh and blood, you read yourself into the book, read me out of it so that I can live my life in flesh." I couldn't believe this.

"But you are flesh." I said and before I knew what I was doing I'd grabbed his hand and placed it over his heart. "You have a heart beat, you feel pain, I have broken your heart beat and caused you this pain, but you feel it none the less, You are flesh because_ you_ wanted to be flesh. And I have wounded you. Forgive me." "For what?" He asked. "For this." I said and I pushed him out of the tree. He landed in the grass. "Now we're even." I called down to him. He moaned and looked up at me. "Perhaps, but you forget I have backup." I stopped mid-laugh. Backup? What was he talking about?

Legolas landed in front of me. Oh that backup Curse his ninja skills. I climbed higher into the tree to avoid injury. "Ha, what now?" I asked him. He merely point an arrow at me. So I did the sensible thing. I jumped.

I looked up at him and the smug look on his face. "Oh, that was fair, you could have killed me." I shouted up to him. "I have had my revenge." was all he said. "Then let me have mine." I said smiling as I caught a glimpse of my friend sneaking up behind Legolas, she swung the elf's feet out from under him and he fell face first toward the ground, The look on his face was priceless.

By now I was dying from laughter.

An elf appeared and looked at us, wondering what the heck we where doing. "Gandalf has fallen into the fire of evil." He said sadly. I stopped laughing and stood up to go back to the clearing. The music had stopped and no one was moving. The air was tense with sadness. How quickly it had turn from a party into a gathering of sadness.

I saw their sorrow and I felt sadness myself. It seemed that everyone was waiting for me to react. I began to sing I took their sorrow and sang out, my tears didn't come from my eyes but rather I cried with my voice. And no one moved and everyone listened. That was why they began to call me Linadulinneth. Or 'songbird' in the Common Tongue.

xXx

Three days later the King requested that I be present at a meeting. I was excited at first I thought it was going to be interesting. A maid brought me a white dress that stopped half-way past my knees, a leather strip to use as a belt and black tights along with my silver and brown boots.

The meeting was boring.

I voiced my opinion after sitting there for two hours in bored silence. "Why is this _child _even present at all?" An Elf lord glared at me. "No one asked what you though on the matter." I stood from my chair and began shouting at him as I walked toward him. "You talk about orcs swarming our borders, you talk about what is going to be done to protect our people, that is all you're doing, talking!" "You sit here and think your safe from the evil outside. When you are far from it. You all sit here when you could be fighting against the forces that are taking action while you are not. I shall fight. This _child _as you consider me, shall fight as you cower within your walls and live your life away from all that is still good and pure. No one asked for my opinion on the matter, but I've given it none the less!" And with that I slapped him and stalked out of the room.

Ethirdir was sitting in the garden when I ran outside. He was sitting with his back up against a tree with a book and pencil in his hands. I climbed to one of the lower branches of the tree he was leaning against and tried to catch my breath. "I'm bored." I said to him as I watched him attempt to draw a flower, his eyebrows knit together has he drew a few lines and then erased them. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I'm a herb master it's a medicine flower, it's for future references, It's Kingsfoil and I'm attempting to draw it." He replied. "I give up." He shut the book and leaned up against the tree I was going to say something to encourage him but at that moment a certain very angry Elf lord stormed into the garden.

Oh no. "Hide me." I squeaked. "What have you gone and done now?" He asked laughing at the expression of fear I had on my face. "I was never here." I told him firmly as I began to climb higher into the tree.

XxX

"I need a patrol to go to the Eastern side of the forest." The King said. "Let me go please I'm so bored." I begged. "No, your actions from earlier have prevented you from going anywhere." the King objected. "Ethirdir will go."

Oh that is just cold, that is so not fair, how come he gets to go!

Joke is on him though because he sent me to my room and my room had a window, need I say more?

XxX

"What are you doing here?" Ethirdir hissed at me as I rode my horse up to him. "Helping." I stated. He was going to say something but a voice cut him off. "Groups of three, spread out, shoot on sight anything that even resembles an orc." The company split and I followed Ethirdir and another elf as we slipped through the trees.

The third member of our group went off a little ways to the left when she thought she saw something move. I was trying to lighten the mood by talking as we rode on though the trees. The horses stopped and Ethirdir tensely slid off his horse's back and went to scan the ground for tracks. I followed hesitantly. Still talking even though I'd gotten a lot quieter. The bushes to our left moved. Ethirdir walked swiftly back toward me and clapped his hand over my mouth. I gave a muffled scream as the shadows began to move. "Shh." Ethirdir snapped. "Don't move."

Oh great now I'm thinking of horror movies again. If this is someone's idea of a joke it's not funny anymore. Why is it always me? "Get down." Ethirdir said quietly. The shadows moved again and it took all my will power not to run away screaming. The next few things happened so fast I didn't even have time to blink.

Yep horror movie scene An orc crashed though the tree line and aimed a black arrow at my chest. Ethirdir moved to block the shot. Cruse his dumb bravery. The arrow went flying and I screamed as it hit flesh, Ethirdir was down within a heart beat. I stared at his body in shock too numb to move. Scarlet blood, he was flesh and blood and he'd taken an arrow to the heart.

I screamed and flung myself over his non-moving body I arched over him protectively as the orc snarled at us and stepped forward, rasing his axe to deliver the killing blow. "Kathlyn." Ethirdir whispered before coughing up blood. "I want to go to sleep." He said wistfully. "Don't you even dare, I'm going to get help don't you dare die on me." I pleaded His eyes gazed over but they didn't close. There was the sound of another arrow on flesh.

Man you've gotta love Elves and their perfect timing. The orc fell down dead. "Let me see him." A voice demanded. No no, no he's in pain what if they make it worse please don't make it worse please. "My horse someone take my horse, some help him someone save him."

**Ethirdir's POV**

I knew it was a bad idea for her to fallow me. Why han't I listened to myself? I saw it coming, not it exactually. Not the arrow, but I knew something was going to go wrong. I had to do my job I had to keep her safe at all cost, if not the King would kill me if I don't die from the arrow that was now stuck in my chest. I hear her screaming, the orc is still alive I have to get up I have to move...I have to..sleep I want to sleep.

Blissful nothingness, but I can still hear her screaming. I've left her to her fate. Why have I failed her...Why her? anyone but her... Not Linadulinneth... Not my songbird.

**Kathlyn's POV **

Don't ask me how I managed to keep us both upright on my horse, but I did. Legolas met us at the gate. If looks could kill twenty orcs just dropped dead somewhere. But he was looking at me.

Oh wonderful, out of all the Elves in Middle-Earth I had to go and tick him off? Why me? Why Ethirdir? Just why?

"Let me help, please let me save him?" I begged. "I think the best thing you can do for him is stay away from him!" The King's words hurt but I took them, it should have been me.. I deserve this pain I deserve worse.

I can't do it I have to see him. The healing wing is as quiet as death. Death what does it feel like for someone like Ethirdir? Someone who was supposed to live forever. His face is so peaceful looking he's eyes are still open in Elvish sleep, he could have been sleeping but he was dying. The cloth on his chest was red with blood. He was sleeping I tried to convince myself of this but the sad and sick reality was that my friend was dying and it was all my fault.

"If my brother dies it is your fault." Legolas said dangerously. It was my fault all of it was my fault. And now I had Legolas telling me so. But I took it. I watched him walk away. I the Princess of Mrikwood had just royalty screwed myself.

At least Legolas cared for his brother. Yay! And he was probably going to stick an arrow though me to prove it. Oh the joy.

**Review. Please and thank you next chapter should be up soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I own nothing. Any ideas on what I should do? Let me know in your reviews thanks.**

Chapter 5

Remembering the past

It was a dream I couldn't breathe, it was a nightmare.

I heard screams, someone grabbed me and tried to keep me safe as Orcs began to crawl over the walls. The person was rushing me down a hallway. Her voice sounded like a voice that I should have known but it was far off. We entered a room and the woman pulled me close. She was trying to calm me down. "I can take you away from here but you must be brave child, listen to me there are some people who will seek the throne. You will return when your people need you, but I'm going to have to wipe away most, if not all of your memories." There was a blinding flash of white light and then Orcs stormed in and dragged the woman away. "You must find me when you return, I will not die I promise you." She called out to me.

Then nothing, black nothing. I wanted to cry I remembered now. Mom. I felt sick, I woke up and wanted nothing more than to forget. what I'd seen. I couldn't sleep so I just sat there. I will not pity myself any longer it's been a week since Ethirdir's injury and he still hasn't improved. What had he said about healing herbs, what was that flower called Kingsfoil. Kingsfoil! of course I'm an idiot. Here that flower was growing in the gardens and no one had bothered to test it on anything.

xXx

I slipped into the healing wing after boiling the Kingsfoil in water. Ha I knew doing extensive research on all things Middle-Earth would pay off some day, Would this count toward me being a doctor in the real world? That would look so cool on a job form. I healed an elf with Kingsfoil. Okay getting distracted here, focus. I dipped a rag into the water that I'd boiled the Kingfoil in. I did that every night after of two weeks. With little reward. After doing it once more at the end of week two. I sat there in a chair and was going to give up utterly and completely. When he moved. After three weeks of nothing he moved. Thank you. His face looked so pale in the dark that he could have been a ghost. Please don't let him be a ghost. He turned his green eyes on me and blinked. "What no annoying comment?" I asked in a hushed tone. He looked me up and down for a moment as if he couldn't believe I was there. "You look like death." He whispered. Yep he was back. "And you almost died." I whispered back. I hugged him. He sucked air in though his teeth. Oh right injury. "Sorry." I mumbled.

Suddenly someone burst though the door, light poured in from the hallway. I blinked at the sudden shift of lighting. "Kathlyn, you are here by under arrest for attempted killing and treason." What the- is going on? People swarm into the room and I'm grabbed and led out of the room, I cast a glance back at Ethirdir, He looks like he wants to follow. "I didn't do it someone set me up." Then there's a hand on my mouth, someone is trying to get me to shut up. I bite the hand and then allow myself to be led to the trial room. What is going on? One minute I'm awake and the next I'm in another nightmare. A living nightmare.

"The way I see it you have two options. One is life in prison the other, is banishment. You have ten minutes to choose." "What are the terms of banishment?" "You will be led into the woods with a cloth tied to your eyes so you won't be able to see where you are going. You will not have any weapons. Nor is anyone allowed to help you under any circumstances." The elf lord spoke, I knew I shouldn't have slapped him. Now I'm being wrongly accused. I really wanted to slap him. Don't they need evidence for this kind of thing. "What! She can't defend herself, she's inexperienced." The voice is Ethirdir's . Thank you at least someone sees sense, wait did he just question my skill? Oh who cares I'm freaking out right now. "I choose banishment." There was a collectivize gasp. Oh thanks for the vote of confidence everyone. "Take her away." They can't seriously do that, Can they? This is getting very suspicious. Wait a minute where's the king? They're doing this behind his back. Red alert Red alert.

Bang the cell door shuts. A plan instantly begins to form within my head. Ethirdir's face appears in the window several feet up. "I have a plan." I whisper. "I'm already horrified." He replies. "I need you to just sneak into the room and look for anything that could prove he's the one behind all this." "Are you crazy, your going to get us both behind bars!" He hissed. I stand up on the mattress so I'm closer to the window. "I wouldn't be asking you to do this if I didn't think it was going to work. Get Amy I'm going to send her back to our world, I'm not going to put all three of us in danger." "Aren't you going to go back with her, you could do it you could read yourself out of this problem. You could go back." He says. "No, my choice has been made this isn't just about me anymore, this is about you and everyone else, this is about the war. There are choices that I haven't made yet, but this one I have." "Do you not miss it, do you not miss your home?" "Every minute. And I'm terrified but that's not going to stop me from helping." And out of nowhere, Passenger's let her go is playing in my head. why do these songs pop up in the most random times?

"Cause you only need the light when it's burning low only miss the sun when it starts to snow, only hate the road when your missing home."

xXx

Two days later A note is pushed though the barred window. "I found this and a little bottle of some kind of poison." The note is on the ground. I'll look at that later. "Let me see the bottle." I climb up onto my mattress and Ethirdir slips the little glass container though the bars. I finger the glass for a minute. is the liquid black because of the dim lighting or is it naturally that way? "This is the head of the arrow that I was shot with." A black arrowhead falls to the ground beside the note. I retrieve the arrow head and open the bottle with the black poison in it. I smell the poison on the arrowhead and then the stuff in the bottle. My eyes widen. "They smell the same, do you know what kind of poison this is?" "I can do some test on it, it's no doubt some sort of poison used by orcs." I hand the bottle back though the bars. I turn my attention to the note. Do I dare? I unfold it carefully and scan my eyes over the lettering. It Elvish writing. But luckily I know how to read the language as well as speak it. The little two-faced..."

May 13th

The orcs have captured the Queen but the Princess is nowhere to be found. I need them both alive, if I can't have them both alive then the Queen must die."

I was only six then..My mother really was gone. I knew it. The door bursts open and I quickly hid the note up my sleeve.

And so begins my banishment.

**Review thank you :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**I own nothing. Sorry it took so long for me to update but I was super busy. Anyway Enjoy. Let me know if you have any ideas for this story or any future stories. Thanks. **

Chapter 6

Alone

I was led outside. I'd been blindfolded so I couldn't see anything but I could hear voices all around me, everyone seemed to have an opinion on my current state. One voice rose above all the others. Amy was trying to reach me. But it sounded like someone was preventing her from coming to my aid. I didn't want her to see any of this I didn't want her to see me. It might have been the fact that we where stuck in a book but in the next second I became aware of a bright flash of light even with my blindfold on, I might have cast some sort of spell or maybe the book did it. But I knew Amy was gone. I didn't know how or where she'd gone to. But she was gone. And then the tears came.

Would I ever see her again?

XxX

I was led deep into the woods. "Take the blindfold off." A voice demanded. I obeyed but when I examined my surroundings I was alone. No Amy, no Ethirdir no one.

It really is amazing what fear can do to you, it made me feel strong and weak at the same time, it made me want to run be I couldn't move. I looked at the small leather backpack that sat in front of me. "Once this gone, your on your own." someone had said. I looked inside. Water, bread, a pen, ink and paper. Paper what the heck i'm I supposed to do with paper, they couldn't have given me more food or a blanket to keep warm. How cold did it get here at night? Then a thought hit me. Ethirdir what if he'd been the one to hide the paper and ink in my bag? Now we had a way to communicate but how was I going to get the letters to him?

I decided to worry about that later. The paper wasn't going to do me any good if I die before I could write anything. Shelter I needed shelter I didn't want to be in the middle of the woods, out in the open and defenseless if one of those huge spiders or an Orc shows up. Speak of the devil and it appears. There were noises. And the biggest most angry looking spider crawled into view. It looked at me as if it wanted to get revenge for all of the little tiny harmless house-spiders I'd smashed over the years. It wasn't going to have a problem smashing me, not in less A giant came walking along and stepped on it. Or maybe one of those walking trees. I looked around half expecting a huge tree to magically appear. Then I remembered that I wasn't in the right forest for such a thing to happen. Gosh darn it!

Again its amazing what fear can do to you. I was running faster then I thought possible, even for an elf. The spider enjoyed the idea of chase and took off after me. I was running for my life...No joke. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I screamed for no particular reason. Maybe I did something to make it mad and apologizing would make it go away, maybe we would make up and become friends. Or not. The spider crawled after me faster. I was beginning to dislike the book _Charlotte's Web. _

I stumbled over every single tree root in my way. The spider seemed to find this whole thing very amusing, I on the other hand was running out of energy. I still had plenty of fear though. I didn't want to die, if only I wasn't alone. I hated being helpless and alone. I don't know when the spider had stopped chasing me.

I turned around and saw why. I'd ran a good yard or two ahead of the spider. It was hissing at an Orc who'd appeared seemingly out of nowhere. My sense immediately were on the alert. I'd been in a panic but how come I hadn't heard the Orc coming? And why was there only one? I mean I could be wrong but in the book and the movie had there always been at least two or three together.

XxX

A thick arm was around my neck and a knife was to my throat. Oh there's the other Orc. I was sick and tired of running and screaming. That was the last straw. With my last bit of fear there came a strength that I didn't know I had. I grabbed the hand that held the knife. I pushed the hand away from me and twisted the wrist. The Orc gave a guttural scream as its wrist snapped. The neck thing I knew the knife was in my hand. "Who do you work for, why are you here?" Okay that totally sounded like a line from one of the movies, go me that sounded awesome. Really me. really? Your in the middle of questioning an Orc and the one thing your worried about is how you sound while doing it? What is wrong with you, Focus!

I hated it when the sensible side of my mind was right.

"Who do you serve." I demanded again. "I'll not reveal such information to an Elf." The Orc replied. "Then die." I said calmly. The knife was in the Orc's chest. It fell with a heavy thud. I stood there for a minute breathing heavily and staring at the Orc that was lying lifeless on the ground. I can believe I just did that. I felt strangely proud of myself. I'd killed the thing all by myself. The other Orc and the spider were nowhere to be seen. The spider had probably eaten the Orc but what if the Orc had escaped, what then? Would it get a message back to whomever it served?

I climbed up into the branches of a nearby tree, the upper branches were so wide and thick that I could lay down on them fully spread out. Night noises floated up to my ears from the ground and from the branches of other trees. Where there other thing here besides spiders and Orcs things that hadn't been mentioned in the book or the movies? Other things that haunted the night? Suddenly the darkness seemed too close and I felt alone again, and fear came back only this time it was a fear that made me feel weak and helpless instead of strong. I felt like a small child. A small helpless, frightened, motherless child afraid of the dark. What would happen to me here? I took out a piece of paper and the ink. The paper was rougher and thick than I was used to. But that was probably so that the ink wouldn't bleed though to the other side.

It was too dark to write, but It made me feel better to know that if I needed help I could reach out to someone. The paper was going to help me, Ethirdir had found a way to help me even though he was far away and wouldn't be able to get to me if I had to fight more then two Ocr's at a time, but still It felt good to have some form of help. I put the ink back into the bag but I held the paper in my fingers. I fell asleep holding the paper it was my lifeline. It was going to help me survive.

XxX

Morning came and I heard movement down on the ground. I saw a company of at least ten Orcs heading north. I froze unable to do anything do to my lack of weapons. I knew I should have kept that Orc's knife but I didn't and now I was regretting it.

"I told you there was no one here." Hissed an Orc. "But there was someone here, an Elf I swear, she killed Hoggut." Another Orc was pleading desperately with the first." "What on earth would an elf be dong this far out in the middle of the forest so close to where the Dark Lord now dwells?" The first Orc asked the smaller one. "Your guess is as good as mine how am I supposed to know?" The second Orc defended himself. While they were in the middle of their argument A blue bird had landed on my shoulder it frightened me so bad that I almost screamed and gave away my cover. The bird showed no concern of the Orcs that where arguing harshly down on the ground. It looked at me expectantly. Tied to its little gray claws was a note. It was led in place by sliver threads of rope.

Of course! Ethirdir had found a way to get our letters back and forth. Why hadn't I thought of that? I reached out the palm of my hand. The bird stayed on my shoulder. I reached my hand slowly toward the bird and carefully untied the ropes that held the letter in place.

_The King is in a state of unrest. He's tried looking for you but the Elf Lord who sent you away in the first place is telling him that you ran away on your own free will, he's saying that you were a spy sent by the Orcs. People are angry. You need to come back and make sure these lies about you die. The bird will carry our __messages. Find your way back quickly and be safe. I'm working on something that will come to you soon, look for a gray fox. _

I turned the paper over and quietly began to write with the ink and pen. After my response was done I let the ink dry and then I refolded the paper and retied the ropes. I reached into my bag and broke off a little piece of bread. The bird took the bread and then flew off above the tree tops. Meanwhile the Orcs had taken fighting stances. I broke off a twig from the branch I was currently sitting on. and tossed it off into the undergrowth. The Orcs tensed and all was deadly silent. "See, see I told you its the Elf come to take her revenge." The smaller Orc made to turn and flee. But the first Orc wasn't impressed. "Just because you hear a sound in the woods doesn't mean that there's going to be some random Elf bent on revenge you idiot! Its a forest there are other things here besides Elves! Rabbits or deer or maybe even bears. And all your concern is for one bloody Elf!" The first Orc bellowed.

"You don't think its a giant spider do you?" The smaller Orc asked. The first Orc turned purple with rage. "If I have to hear you wine like a frightened dog at every little noise you hear I might as well just leave you out here to be killed by the Elves you fear so much!" The smaller Orc instantly shut up. I broke off a bigger stick and chucked it at the bigger Orc. It thudded off his thick skull with a fairly loud bonk sound, The Orc twirled around in circles trying to see who or what had hit him in the head.

The smaller Orc started to laugh at the comical scene. "Why I ought to strangle you." The other Orc said darkly as he relised he was being made fun of.

"The coward you are for not climbing up this tree and facing me head on, for are you afraid of losing to the Elf who your companion fears?" I shouted down at them. The bigger Orc snapped his head up to look at the tree where I was calmly swinging from a branch, holding on with my hands and letting my feet swing beneath me. The Orcs began to climb the tree. "What is the name of the Elf who taunts me? Tell me your name so that I may curse it!" The bigger Orc demanded as he inched his way toward me. "I'm known as Songbird, and I shall sing of your death, for you are blind in your anger and your anger shall be that which destroys you." I yelled back at him. He was now on the branch below mine and as he reached out his hands to grab me I kicked at his chest with my feet and he lost his balance and fell out of the tree and never got back up. Again the smaller Orc had escaped.

**Review please, also if you have any ideas about what I should do in the future let me know. Thanks. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I haven't updated in forever. I can only say I'm sorry, but I fixed my laptop so.. This chapter is a peace offering. **

**Disclaimer: see the previous chapters. **

Chapter 7

Evil Plans

"It was really quite simple all you had to do was kill her." The Elf Lord's tone made the orc flinch, it was too calm. "Don't bother pleading your case." The elf continued. When the orc was about to protest. "You are obviously incapable of completing this task, however I will allow you another chance, although your brother would've been my first choice, he's dead now." The elf turned his back to the a walked over to a box that he'd set on the grass, he undid the clasps and reached in. he lifted up the glass vial carefully, he held it to the light and his eyes widened in shock. The vial was empty, the poison was gone...

The orc ducked as the glass vial flew towards his head, it smashed against a tree and shattered, broken glass flew in every direction.. A shadow passed over the elf's face. And the orc took a step back, eying the dagger that the elf had at his waist. The elf's voice was dangerously calm as he turned to face the orc again. "It seems we are going to have to move forward in our other plans at the moment, prepare your companions for battle, you'll march for Helms deep tomorrow."

**Kathlyn's POV**

It was now the third day of my banishment and I'd hardly left the tree at all. Two more messages had arrived from Ethirdir, but as far as I could tell things were pretty much the same as they had been when I'd been forced to leave. Was that good or bad? I couldn't really tell, and its not like a could do anything about it anyway. Heck I didn't even know where _I _was.

The spiders had been kind enough to leave me alone. As usual I preferred to look on the bright side of things the negative side was just too long of a list to deal with. I was alone, lost, terrified and fought to save my life more often then I liked. If it wasn't an Orc it was some kind of very large, very wild, very angry animal.

My supplies in the backpack that was given to me by the elves was running out. And I only used the ink and paper when it was absolutely necessary. I only wrote very short responses to Ethirdir's letters.

XxX

The fox appeared later that afternoon. It circled the tree twice before it glanced up at me. It had gray fur and blue eyes. It sat down and continued to stare at me, when it was clear that it wasn't going to leave I began to climb down from the tree. The fox was holding a bow in its jaws. A quiver of arrows was strapped to its back. The bow in its mouth was sliver with black vine patterns etched into it. The bow was thin but strong. Was this the gift Ethirdir had mentioned in his letter? Yes it must be. I've seen this bow before.

Flashback 

I saw sunlight and heard voices, I saw children chasing each other, but everything was blurry I was seeing ghosts, ghosts of the past. A little girl was carrying a sliver bow, sliver with black vines. A boy was trying to encourage the girl to shoot the bow. "I don't know how." The little girl complained. "Then I'll teach you.

Then I saw the same boy alone in a room, he looked frightened, lost and lonely.

XxX

I picked up the bow from where the fox had dropped it on the ground. It was a larger version of the one the little girl had been carrying. The fox began to walk away and I decided to fallow it, it might be heading somewhere safer then my current location.

The fox turned out to be extremely helpful, it was better at detecting danger and it tried its best to lead me away from the center of the forest. After three hours of weaving in and out of shadows we came to a dim clearing. The fox sniffed the ground and gave a short yelp. It must have smelled danger, it tried changing its course of direction, it turned around and around in desperate circles. Suddenly it tensed and ran off into the shadows. In that same moment a company of orcs appeared. I grabbed my bow and fitted an arrow. The motion happened so fast that it surprised me as well as the orcs. One of the larger orcs recovered from his shock and spoke in a gruff voice. "Get out of the way she-elf, we are marching for Helms deep." The orc reached out a hand to push me aside but the fox ran out of the shadows and lunged at the orc. The fox bit the orc's hand and I ran, right into the elf lord that I'd slapped.

Shoot, I'm dead.

"Ah, I'm glad your here, you can deliver my message to the King, tell him I declare war on his kingdom, I intend to have the throne." I stood there and glared at him. "You have no right to declare war, you backstabbing traitor, I curse you and all your kin." And then I ran.

**So..what do you think? Have I redeemed myself? **


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning: Battle scene. You have been warned. :) **

**Disclaimer: see previous chapters. **

Night fell and it became dark. The fox had refused to leave me and I was glad for the company.

I had weird visions again.

XxX

A woman ran toward the children, an older boy was with the woman. The woman grabbed the little boy and the girl by their shoulders and led them away. As the four of them got closer to the castle I started to see people rushing around. "Tell me they haven't climbed the walls yet." The woman begged. The older boy looked at the woman with a dark expression. The woman looked like she was going to panic. The little girl fought free of the woman's grip, and ran to the edge of the wall. She stared down at the ground in fascinated horror. An orc had climbed over the wall and now stood less then ten feet away from the girl, the orc was on her left side so the girl didn't see him. "Get away from there." the woman screamed. She ran to grab hold of the girl's hand. Someone shot an arrow and in the next moment the orc was dead.

The girl stood frozen to the spot unable to look away from the lifeless body, as black blood seeped onto the stones. The girl shook off the woman's hand. "Let me stay, I want to help." The girl begged with a childlike pleading, completely unaware that she was in the middle of a real battle, or maybe she did know the risks, but she looked so determined to help. The woman gripped the girl's shoulders firmly and keeled down to look the girl in the eyes. "I'm your mother, so please listen to me when I say that this isn't one of your games. Do you understand Kathlyn? Its not a game, none of it? I need to get you out of here."

"But- I can help. Teach me how to use my bow, I want to stay here. I want to learn how to be a warrior. I want to fight." The girl pleaded, as her mother dragged her away.

XxX

I woke up, my pulse was racing and I couldn't tell if the water on my face was sweat or tears. Mom, would she be proud of me now? What would she do if she were here? Dawn turned the sky pink. The fox was sitting at the edge of the camp. It looked off into the distance, impatient to leave. "Fine, lead the way." I said standing and waiting for it to move in a direction. We were closer to the castle then I'd originally thought. It was only mid-day when we reached the outer gate. I fed the fox the last of the bread that I had as a way to thank it for its help. I tried not to look at the orc blood that it still had on its teeth from when it had bit the orc.

One of the guards spotted me and began to shout orders to the other guards in Elvish. They ran to me and started asking me a ton of questions, after four days of being completely alone it was slightly overwhelming to have that many people speaking at once in a language I didn't understand that well. I'll give them credit though, I must have looked slightly pale and frightened. But that's honestly expected, I mean I was given a war proclamation. I had the right to be a little freaked out. I pushed my way past the guards. The fox didn't seem frightened by all of the people. It walked by my side and regraded everyone carefully, ready to bolt if it needed to. I didn't really have anywhere to go, so I just wandered around. Someone found me and practically pulled off my arm as they dragged me toward the throne room.

XxX

I walked in, while the King was in the middle of a conversation. Naturally that's something I would do. "...Of course I'm not questioning your judgment. I'm only saying that our situation is more dire then we first thought, Your Highness are you even listening to-" And then of course everyone in the room turns to look at me. Gosh its like being late for something, trying to sneak into the room and then everyone turns to look at you. "What?!" I snapped. "Pretend I'm not here, is it that hard not to turn around and stare at the door every time someone walks in." I went to go and lean against the wall, while they resumed talking. Ethirdir entered the room and no one so much as glanced at him as he leaned up against the wall opposite me.

Seriously? Everyone turns to look at me when I walk in, but not one person looks at him? "You are dismissed." The King said evenly and the elf who had been speaking, bowed and left the room.

The King turned his gaze toward me, I couldn't tell if he was angry or relieved to see me, with my luck it was both. For the moment he decided to say nothing at all, I took my chance. "They..he..um..I." Well this was going amazingly well, why can I not form words? Meanwhile The king was giving me a look that said: 'If you don't become literate in the next five seconds I'm going to start yelling at you for looking like an idiot.' I cleared my throat and the words came spilling out of my mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't...I was banished..And now he's declared war and..and." Not exactly a very smooth report, but hey at least he's only looking at me like I'm an insane idiot. I stopped to catch my breath, the King didn't look the least bit shocked by the news. Ethirdir on the other hand looked at me as if I'd just told someone to jump off a cliff. War obviously wasn't something he wanted to get involved in at the moment.

"We must meet the summons, I still don't see why he would've attacked while he was in the castle's range." The King muttered to himself. "It makes sense, the castle is too well defended and even if he attacked form the inside the castle's to big for him to kill everyone, there are too many places that we could hide, there's is a stock of provisions that could last us an entire year or more, he wouldn't have access to those resources, there are too many of us, some of us would escape, there would be survivors." _Survivors like me. _The King looked at me with a shocked expression, Oh so when I tell him that we are being threatened with war, he doesn't react but when I say something smart he's shocked? He needs to rethink his option of me because this is just making me feel like I'm not being helpful.

"Shall I tell my brother to organize the march?" Ethirdir looked expectantly at the King. "I'm fighting too." I demanded. Ethirdir looked at the King again, probably silently begging him to object my order to fight. I watched them have their staring contest, then decided that it would be better for me if I just walked out and fought in the battle anyway.

Ethirdir gave up trying to change my mind. I turned to face him as we walked down the hallway. "I know what I'm doing." I insisted. I studied his face carefully, his breath seemed to falter and I remembered his injury. "Are you okay/" I asked I took a step toward him. He was breathing more normally now.

It was my turn to almost stop breathing. I spun around as I felt someone walking toward us. I was still on edge form being alone in the forest, where I couldn't turn my back for more than a few hours without being attacked.

"Don't do that." I snapped at Legolas, he ignored me as I tried to remember how to breathe. Ethirdir spoke in Elvish, I assumed that he was reporting what the King wanted Legolas to do. I slipped away from the conversation. I realized that the fox had disappeared. I missed it.

XxX

I led my horse to the front of the march line. My horse fell into step with the King's white elk. The ground turned black under my horse's hooves. The march halted, and waited in dead silence. The King scanned the landscape for any sign of movement. He turned to the small group that stood awaiting orders, there were only about twenty elves, the rest where back in Mirkwood defending the castle. The King spoke. "Ethirdir take the healers, see if you can assist with the wounded. The rest of you I want in battle," then he turned to me. "go and prove yourself."

XxX

My horse ran into the fray and I was immediately charged at by goblins. Six of them where on each side of me. They where too close for me to shoot, I tried to back up so I could get a clear shot, but I was trapped. My horse's nostrils flared, the horse reared and the goblins scattered, momentarily leaving a weak spot in the circle. I held on for my life as my horse shot for the opening, the horse jumped over a goblin who moved to block the escape. The goblin fell down dead when it suffered a blow to the head, caused by one of my horse's hooves. I was now in the center of everything, it was near impossible to shoot my bow. I tried to calm my horse. I saw another white horse among the black bodies of the orcs and goblins. Gandalf and Shadowfax.

I urged my horse forward. "Well met Gandalf." I said bowing my head slightly. Gandalf did the same and continued to fight, I slowly moved away from him, giving him room to move his sword and staff. My horse charged at an orc and I let an arrow fly. Both sides were not spared form loss. I watched as the ground was stained with black and red blood, the grass soaked up the blood as if it were water. My horse reared, I was taken by surprise and didn't have time to brace myself. And I fell. The goblin didn't have time to kill. A thin white sword flew out of nowhere and killed it.

Ethirdir appeared and pulled the sword out of the goblin's heart. "Cutting it a bit closer. Don't you think?" He asked me. "Maybe." I said standing and fitting an arrow to my bow. " I thought you were supposed to help the injured." I said, wanting to here an explanation as to why he was defying orders. Not that I cared what he did. "That's not an injury?" He asked pointing to my left forearm, it took me a minute to process the seriousness of the wound, it was large, but it must've been deep because it was bleeding a lot, ether that or whoever had caused the cut had hit a vein. "How far is it to the healers tent?" I asked trying to keep my voice calm, trying not to look at the blood running down my arm.

"Not far." Ethirdir answered. I looked around for my horse, it lay on the grass a few feet away from where it had tried to run. Its eyes where as black and as still as marbles, its sliver coat was stained red around the chest. I choked back a sob, moving forward I examined the horse for any sign of life, when I found none, I pulled its eyelids gently over its unblinking eyes, and cried.

I couldn't tell if I had fainted from blood loss or just too much emotional stress.

XxX

The ghosts came back.

XxX

My mother was dragging me away, the older boy had stayed by the wall to help defend it. The smaller boy tried his best to fallow my mother and I but we soon lost him in the crowd. The younger version of me cried. "I can't leave him, he's my friend, Ethirdir is my friend." "If you don't leave, then it won't matter if you left him, because if you don't leave you could die here. This is not a game anymore." My mother had tears in her eyes as she bent down to hug me. "Let's turn this into a game shall we? I'm probably making this terrifying, but you have to understand that I'm afraid too. Let's play hide and seek, run, hide and don't let them find you." So I listened and I ran.

I shut myself in a room and my mother found me later. "You have to go away now." she said sadly. I was sitting on the floor hugging my knees, orcs came into the room and dragged my mother away. "Leave her alone, get away, where are you taking her? I have to come too!" I screamed. They took her away and left me sobbing on the floor of the room, maybe they hadn't seen me or maybe they just didn't care. "I have to come too." My voice sounded broken. The whisper sounded too loud in the empty room.

Someone came into the room. "Get out! They're going to come back and take you too. I want Ada, you need to tell Ada that they took Nana, He'll save her." The boy came closer. "Ethirdir, please. You need to tell my Ada what happened," I took my bow off of my back and threw it to the floor, I took a step back, the only thing between us was the bow, I needed to keep my distance. "Why can't you tell your Ada?" Ethirdir asked looking confused. "I need to play hide and seek, but I'm going somewhere that they won't find me. I'm going to leave for a while." "I want to come too." Ethirdir said. "No! Get out!" I screamed. Then there was a blinding light, and he was gone.

XxX

I woke up in a tent, the flap of the tent was pulled aside, a healer entered, she spoke in a heavy accent. "Good, you woke, do you feel pain?" I shook my head. My brain was still trying to sort the past away for the present. The healer left and Ethirdir entered the tent. He began to walk around the tent. Looking for something among the many boxes of supplies. He lifted up a glass bottle. He motioned for me to hold out my arm. "This is going to sting." he warned. He wet a cloth with the liquid and pressed it on my arm. I gritted my teeth and sucked in air. He talked to me as he worked. "Its a little worse than we thought, the good news is that it was a projectile that wasn't aiming for you." "And if it had been?" I asked waiting for him to respond. He grew serious. "You would have lost your arm." He released the pressure on the cloth. He then proceeded to rub some other type of medicine on the injury. It was only when he was wrapping my arm in a new cloth. That I dared to speak, I would have spoken sooner but I hadn't wanted to break his concentration. "I'm sorry." Ethirdir's hands froze, he glanced at me "For what?" "For leaving, but I can back." Ethirdir waved my apology away and continued to wrap my arm in the white cloth. He pulled firmly on the cloth to tighten it. "Don't be sorry, you did what you had to ." Ethirdir said after a moment. He pulled on the cloth one more time. "That should hold until we can get you back to the palace for a proper examination." I smiled at him. "Thank you."

He left soon after that to go and attend to others who'd been injured. I looked at my arm, sometimes I had moments where I couldn't remember what was real and what wasn't. A few weeks ago hadn't I thought all of this was just a book, that it wasn't real. And yet here I was, after almost losing my arm. I missed my old life, where I could step outside without any fear of being killed. I missed Amy so much. What was she doing now? Sometimes times I woke up in the middle of the night expecting it to have all been a dream. Sometimes I woke up afraid that it had been a dream, sometimes I woke up disappointed that it wasn't.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine, almost done. Let me know if you guys want a sequel. Enjoy.**

Chapter Nine

Return

"I shouldn't have let you fight, I thought you could handle it..." The King looked at my arm which was still bound in white cloth. "apparently I was wrong." I looked at my arm, ashamed, just when I thought his opinion of me had turned for the better I had to go and mess up. Of the original force that went to Helms deep. Fourteen remained and all of them were injured in some way. I looked down at the ground. The King got up from his throne and started to pace the room. "Please don't be mad." I begged, I most likely sounded like a six year-old, but I didn't care. I had to fix this before it got worse. If my plan was going to work I had to have him in a good mood. "How could you be so careless!" He yelled. I snapped. "I would've have fought anyway, because I don't need to listen to you, I didn't even want to be here! You were never there for me, why should I care what you think about me? Why should I care about you? Why do you suddenly care about me?" how dare he call me careless, I'd lived without him for years, and he had the nerve to tell me what to do. I flinched at my own words. "Get out." the King's voice was controlled. I backed out of the room, slightly shocked by his blunt reply. "Ada, please." the words were out and they shocked us both. " I haven't heard you say that word in eleven years." I was too shaken to even respond. I smiled sadly, "I really am sorry." I said finally. The King sighed. "Go and rest." he said in an exhausted tone.

XxX

I dragged Ethirdir to my room. "Promise me you won't get mad." I blurted. "Why?" He dragged out the question and glanced around with such a comical expression, that I laughed slightly. I glared at him, with what was probably not a terrifying expression. "Promise me." I said. He sighed. I took that as a yes. "How do you think the King would react if I brought a dwarf into the castle." Ethirdir looked cornered. He looked around as if to make sure no one was listening to us. "You didn't!" he looked honestly afraid of the answer. I couldn't help a grin from spreading across my face. "Oh but I did." I walked, over to the wooden chest at the foot of my bed, I thew back the lid to the chest and Gimli popped out. Ethirdir eyed the dwarf with dislike, then he walked over to the wall and pressed his head against it. "What were you thinking?" he asked without looking at me. "You need the dwarfs' support if you want to win this war, and seeing as we didn't find the elf Lord who declared war, he's still out there, which means he's still a threat to everyone who's fighting for our side. Ethirdir looked at me, then turned his gaze to the dwarf. "How did you get him in here." Ethirdir hissed. I couldn't tell if he was trying to keep his voice down because he didn't want anyone outside to hear, or because he didn't want to yell at me. He looked angry and frightened at the same time, as if he was afraid of the dwarf being discovered and then having the King blame it all on him.

I almost felt guilty for putting him though this. I was going to answer his question, but Gimli beat me to it. "Let's just say I didn't come here on my on free will." Ethirdir looked pale. "You kidnapped a dwarf?!" He couldn't help shouting this time and I hurriedly clapped my hand over his mouth. "Shh!" I warned, he gave me a look so angry it was almost hostile. I removed my hand form his mouth and he started pacing the room. "We are going to suffer the King's anger." Ethirdir talked half to himself. "Oh well your race hasn't been exactly friendly toward me or my family. Gimli pointed out. He looked at me, "Although, I was genuinely shocked when she tried to persuade me to come back to Mirkwood with her." Was he trying to hit on me? Ew. I took a step away from him and held my head higher. "It was for alliance discussions, nothing more." Ethirdir looked more then slightly amused as I moved to hide behind him, trying to escape the awkwardness of the situation. My plan was starting to backfire.

I don't think I'd ever been more happy to see a person in my life, because right at that moment Legolas showed up. I stared at the ceiling and thanked thin air, he was finally starting to show up when I wanted him to. He looked at me hiding behind Ethirdir, he gave me a confused look and then he saw Gimli. He had his bow ready in the next second, he and Gimli faced each other weapons at the ready. "Do not think I won't kill you Dwarf, it would be my pleasure." I would've asked him to repeat that line, but then it would kill the mood. "Peace Master Elf, I mean no harm." Gimli replied coldly. I sighed inwardly if only they knew what they were saying. It took all of my will not to start quoting lines from the movies.

I stepped out from behind Ethirdir and walked over to Legolas, I placed a hand on his bow and slowly lowered it so it pointed to the ground. I turned to Gimli. "Drop the ax." I told him. "But.." "Drop it, if you kill any of us, all I have to do is scream once and you'll have an arrow in your heart." Ethirdir flinched, probably remembering is own experience with an arrow. Poor choice of words. I scolded myself. With hesitation Gimli dropped his ax, I picked it up. He glared reproachfully at me. I shrugged indifferently. Who says I don't know how to handle this kind of situation? "Stay here, unless you want to be chased though this castle like a hunted animal." I wouldn't have been so cold toward him but he was on my bad side for the time being. I turned toward the two elves standing by the door. "Outside." I demanded, opening the door and gesturing for them to go first, knowing that if they were alone with the dwarf for even a second it wouldn't end well, it only took a second to shoot an arrow. They glared at Gimli and then we all walked out of the room, I shut the door behind us.

I handed the ax to Legolas, he looked at it in disgust and almost dropped it. "Its not going to kill you if you hold it for a second. _Right the sharp pointy object can't kill._ Again, bad choice of words. "Don't kill the dwarf." I said. They both glared at me. "Fine then, consider that an order," they glared at me harder. "don't look at me like your going to kill me." I said, my voice was getting tired of yelling. Ethirdir laughed. "Its either you or the dwarf." I looked at him. "Your not helping." I told him. He shrugged and continued to smile like this whole situation was extremely amusing. And I was getting extremely annoyed. "Okay then, I guess I'll just have to tell the King it was your idea." I looked at Ethirdir. "You wouldn't." he looked around as if to make sure no one was around, the hall was empty. I forced an evil grim to spread across my lips. "I think you and I both no the answer to that." Ethirdir groaned, already regretting any involvement with what was about to happen. "Fine." He sighed. "Thanks." I replied. "Yeah, yeah just don't expect me too back you up when he starts staring at you again." Did he really just go there? "Who's side are you on?" I asked.

XxX

The four of us walked into the throne room a few minutes later. Gimli walked in the center of our formation so no one would see him in less anyone fell out of step. "Are you really sure we should interrupt the King while he's in the middle of a meeting?" Ethirdir asked in a hushed tone. I nodded in response. "Calm down." I told him in a hushed voice. "Don't tell me to calm down. You know when you said that you had good ideas...Well this isn't one of them." He didn't speak after that and continued to walk, staring straight ahead. "Thank you." I said in a mocking voice. He sighed but said nothing.

"Ada?" My voice echoed in the silence of the room, the council turned to face us as we entered the room. "What have I told you about interrupting me?" The King asked in an irritated tone. "Nothing." I replied honestly. "That's because I shouldn't have to." The King said his voice rose slightly. I exhaled, maybe I should try my plan another time. Ethirdir saw my cornered look and shook his head in pity.

He and Legolas stepped out of the formation before I could stop them. Gimli stood in the center of the room, weaponless and angry. I hung my head in frustration. I shot Ethirdir a look and then turned to the elves who were giving hostile looks to Gimli. "How did it get in here?" The King stood and drew his sword. I laughed nervously. "_It _has a name." Gimli roared, he moved to grab his ax and then realized that he no longer had it.

"We need to make an alliance with him and his followers if we are going to win this war." I protested. "We don't need an alliance, we can ally ourselves with Rivendell." someone said. The King nodded his head in agreement with the voice. I rubbed a hand across my face. I turned to Gimli and rose my voice so everyone in the room could hear what I was about to say. "I will ally myself with you, Gimli son of Gloin, will you accept my offer?" Everyone present gasped in surprise. Gimli thought for a long time and for a moment I thought I was going to be objected. Everyone present held their breath and some of the King's guards stepped forward to protect me should Gimli wish to strike at me, I held up a hand, dismissing their advance. "I accept, on the grounds that it will help my kin and the rest of Middle-earth." I nodded, pleased with his answer. "You are free to take a pony from the stables," I gestured to one of my personal guards. "Show him the safest way out of the forest, better yet see that he gets all the way back to his companions unharmed." The elf nodded with some hesitation and led the dwarf out of the room. "You can't force us into an alliance like that!" The King protested. "_I_ didn't force you into an alliance, _I _alone chose to make him the offer, he could've have declined if he wanted to. It is my own alliance, not yours and not even the kingdom's." The King found no point to argue, so he turned his fury on Legolas and Ethirdir "You knew of this?" Ethirdir took a step back. "She forced us to help her." The king smiled smugly. "And the blame falls to you again." I had nothing more to say so I left the room.

XxX

"Do you think they would follow me into battle if The King weren't around to lead?" I asked Ethirdir. I was in the healing rooms, I had started to help him once my own injury had healed enough, it had become a regular occurrence for the both of us. "That depends on the person, even though we are ruled by a King, we still have our freedoms, we choose to fight because we feel like we can make a difference." "Is that why you became a healer?" I asked, honestly wanting to know why he hadn't chosen to fight openly in battle like his brother. He nodded. "So are you saying that if the King were to fall there would be people who wouldn't follow me?" I already knew the answer, as long as there were people like that elf lord, there would be people who desired power, even among the most peaceful races, it was true for both this world and the one I'd come from. "All rulers have their enemies, but that doesn't mean that you wouldn't have your followers." Ethirdir said as he examined a wound on an elf that I remembered had fought at Helms deep. "Its worse." he muttered. The cut on the elf's shoulder was thin and it wasn't bleeding, but the skin around the cut was slightly swollen and discolored. Ethirdir muttered to himself, he turned his back on the elf and walked over to where most of the medicines were stored. I looked away from the injury, trying not to let my disgust show on my face. The elf on the bed stirred, I placed my hand on the elf's knee. Ethirdir returned with a cup in his hands. "Can you sit up?" He asked the elf, the elf nodded weakly. Once the elf was sitting up Ethirdir handed him the cup. "Drink this slowly." Ethirdir instructed. The elf tipped the cup to his lips, I felt the elf become less tense as whatever was in the drink took effect. Ethirdir took the cup away from the elf, "Better?" Ethirdir asked, the elf nodded and closed his eyes he lowered his head into the pillow and fell asleep. "What was in that cup?" I asked as Ethirdir moved on to the next patient. "I mixed some athelas in with something to make him sleep, athelas works amazingly." A little elf girl ran into the room, her knees were skinned and a little bloody. Ethirdir knelt on the floor as the little girl ran toward him.

"What did you do this time Elien?" "Brother made me walk on a stone wall and I fell." "Haven't I told you not to listen to your brother?" Ethirdir asked, the girl nodded slowly. "Can't you get your mother to look at it?" Ethirdir pointed to the girl's knees. The girl shook her head "I like it when you do it." Ethirdir smiled. "Alright," he sighed. "come on." Ethirdir said as he lifted the girl onto one of the tables. She sat there swinging her legs back and forth in the air. "Stay here and talk to Linadulinneth." Ethirdir said. "Okay." the girl looked at me and smiled. Ethirdir placed a hand on my shoulder as he walked past. "Make sure she doesn't talk too much we don't want her disturbing anyone who's trying to rest. I nodded and turned my attention to the little girl. She didn't talk much at all, she seemed pretty happy just to look at me and swing her legs around in the air.

XxX

Ethirdir came back within two minutes and started to clean the little girl's knees with a damp cloth. The little girl stood up on the table and jumped up and down. Ethirdir placed a finger to his lips, smiling. The little girl stopped jumping up and down, she stood there for a moment looking at the ground as if deciding how far down it actually was. "Don't you even think about." Ethirdir threatened. He lifted the girl off the the table, once her feet were on the ground again she took off running. Ethirdir shook his head. "She's going to fall and hurt herself again, oh well." he laughed. "How often dose she come in here?" I asked. "Often enough, and its always something minor, mostly bloody knees or cuts, its a nice change though, compared to what I normal see." I turned my head as another person entered the room, another one of the healers. "That's your cue, your free to go." Ethirdir dismissed me.

I left the room in a cheerful mood, that mood wouldn't last long.


End file.
